It is sometimes much easier to understand American elections if you look at it as a three party system instead of a two party system. While Republicans and Democrats tend to be the only two parties that win most elections, there is the informal "just stay home" third party which is often the top choice for many Americans and can end up tipping the balance in many elections. In many elections, easily one quarter or more of people who have voted at least once before will not go to the polls, a share of the vote that many parties in true multi-party democracies would envy.

From the Press Secy to the cordon of bubbleheaded advisors the messaging or lack thereof continues to be filtered from Obama on down. The "staging" of the newly decorated Oval Office is another example of public relations gone awry. It's  obviously stupid and phoney.

From the Vanity Rug complete with Seal, the rug is ringed by all our great men from Lincoln,FDR,Kennedy,King,etc.  This is to remind us that Obama is a Great Man, too.

Then the photos that are personal re: facing us all from the rear instead of facing the President when he sits at his desk.  We have to be told that he loves his family?

Then there's the bowl of apples that's supposed to remind of us of Reagan and his jelly beans.  Except for one thing. Apples eaten in the Oval Office from that deplorable mica coffee table?
Where would the cores of these eaten apples go?

The beige,brown, and taupe are weirdly  noncommital and Obama's choice reminds us of a Midwest Hotel Convention room.  What happened to the appropriate "feel" of history and importance this room deserves?

This ham handed bunch are amazingly out of touch. This inauthentic staging tells us a lot about the brown leather bubble and miserable lack of common sense that have emerged from this White House.